Gold takes down Blue on late touchdown, 28-21

Dover's Raekwon Bouges found the end-zone twice helping lead the Gold team to a 28-21 victory over the Blue team in the 59th annual DFRC Blue/Gold All-Star Football Game Saturday night at University of Delaware.

- Even with the Gold win Saturday they still trail Blue in the all-time series 30-26

The Gold team defeated the Blue team in a thrilling contest on the gridiron Saturday at the 59th annual DFRC Blue Gold Football All-Star Game at University of Delaware.

Dover’s Raekwon Bouges scored with 4:13 left in the fourth quarter to spark the Gold team, pulling ahead of the Blue team for the late victory.

The Blue team came out guns blazing on Saturday, scoring 14 points just under six minutes into the opening quarter Saturday thanks to early scores from Concord’s Matthew Mellette, and William Penn’s Cole Slay.

After an opening kick-off return to mid-field from William Penn’s DeShawn Smith to start the game, Mellette scored from ten yards out just five plays later to give the Blue team an early 7-0 lead. Milford’s Octavian Wilson fumbled during the Gold team’s first series of the game, leading to another touchdown drive for the Blue team capped off by a 30-yard touchdown pass from St. Mark’s Zachary Whitehead to Slay and the Blue team was up 14-0 in the blink of an eye.

The Gold team would respond thanks to some strong play from Caesar Rodney signal-caller Alex Kemp who helped lead the Gold team to their first score in the second quarter. Kemp led a 14-play drive, highlighted by a long third-down conversion to CR teammate Kendall Wicks and capped off by a one-yard touchdown run from Indian River’s Spencer Murray to put the Gold on the board trailing Blue 14-7 early in the second quarter.

Later in the quarter, Cape Henlopen’s Justin Lopez recovered a Blue fumble and two plays later Murray hit a wide-open Shedrick Rayford from Woodbridge in the corner of the end-zone to help tie things up for the Gold team. The Gold team’s offense continued to build momentum toward the end of the first half but were thwarted by two Blue team interceptions from Concord’s Machia Davis and McKean’s Darius Jones and the teams went into the break tied at 14-14.

Early in the second half, Bouges fumbled leading to a Jones score for the Blue team to pull them ahead of the Gold team 21-14. However, Bouges would redeem himself in a big-way before the day was over, but not before another Senators came up with a big play.

Late in the third-quarter, with Blue backed up in their end, Dover’s Deon Wright recovered a Whitehead fumble at the six-yard line giving the Gold team a red-zone possession trailing by just a touchdown. One play later, Bouges busted into the end-zone to tie the game up at 21-21 with under four minutes left to go in the third quarter.

The Blue offense was turned aside once again, when St. Georges Tech’s Jiare Hicks stopped Jones on a fourth-and-one rushing attempted forcing a turnover on downs. The Gold team would drive down the field for the go-ahead score capped by another Bouges touchdown, this time from one-yard out to give the Gold team their first and only lead of the ball-game.

Page 2 of 2 - “This week was so much fun,” said Bouges. “This is my last game, I had to do something out there and it felt good after the fumble to be able to make up for that.”

Bouges finished with 41 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 16 carriers Saturday night, while teammate Marcellus Pack – also of Dover – had 27 rushing yards. CR’s Kemp finished 8-for-16 with 162 yards passing to help lead the Gold team offense.

DaJon Emory of Woodbridge received Blue/Gold MVP honors on Saturday, making multiple high-quality catches at wide-out in the Gold team’s victory. Meanwhile, Middletown’s Jacob Bricker received the lineman MVP award for his work his hard work in the trenches making the day very difficult for opposing Blue team quarterbacks.

The win Saturday pulls the Gold team to within four games of the Blue team in the all-time series which the Blue team still leads 30-26-3.